Stern announces new KISS pinball

[swinks]

I agree with Nino, there is QA set in place to capture poor obvious issues as well as safety issues and for so many sets of eyes to see a game and just continue means they are focused on the short term money not reputation and long term sales. Imagine unboxing your game and instead of visual QA issues you play your first game and get a electric shock - then you would not settle for human error. Machines are getting dearer and therefore more care and accuracy should be a higher priority.


But good news, rumour has it that there are "minor" problems with production which will delay games by almost two weeks. Rumour is the problems are minor and should be fixed soon and it will delay delivery of PRO and LE models. A good thing and hopefully true and mean the human errors are being corrected.

[pinball god]

Please confirm as I may be considering a purchase. If I do not like the quality of the nib I can get a full refund. Do I incur any charges like freight, re stocking? Can I get this refund during the warranty period after playing some games and then considering the quality is not there. Can Greg/greg's family return THWD now for the refund.

I'd feel so much more comfortable with this if the above is true. Brett can you find out for us as you have a good relationship with Stern? Thanks.

[Pop Bumper Pete]

Brett, it is about the person who painted the head
it is the person who installed the head
it is the person who checked the machine before shipping

I will just post this pic

[Freiherr]

That is beautiful with 3D glasses. 

[pinball god]

Brett, it is about the person who painted the head
it is the person who installed the head
it is the person who checked the machine before shipping

I will just post this pic

I can't see the problem, I'm dyslexic 

[oldskool1969]

That is beautiful with 3D glasses. 

shouldn't laugh really
 

[Retropin]

They all passed the QC stage.. if there is a QC stage that is.
The badly painted head was posted because the owner has an issue with it.. all replies in the US are because everyone has an issue with it. I don't want to own this machine, but I have an issue with it.
Only people who don't have an issue with it are Stern because they gladly took someones money and gave that POS in exchange and Cavey who as always cannot bear to think that Stern really F**ed up.
Doesn't matter if it was painted in China, USA or outer Mongolia.. fact is Stern passed it and sold it on.

Its a shocker and for a while there, I thought Stern had lifted their game.
Sterns quality is as crap as its always been and the care factor is ZERO... 10 grand is a lot of wedge and for that to be a gamble on the finish just sucks big time. I hope all those in this machine get perfect games.. but yeh.. you just don't know do you till you open the box.
Shouldn't be that way...

[pinnies4me]

I paid about $8K for a NIB BBB some years ago and it was perfect, now has a lot of plays and little dimpling. It was partly mass produced and partly not. The aliens at the back were hand made and hand painted and look perfect still.

[Strangeways]

Humans equal non perfection results when dealing with mass production.
Fact of life unfortunately.

Your Gene Simmonds head might be perfect Nino.

Stern and every company on earth has a warranty for a reason. Nothing is perfect.

Even your restoration business would offer warranty Nino.
Just incAse you or another human involved in your business makes a mistake or doesn't see something during the massive labour task you and Stern share. Is that a fair call about warranty and your warranty.
It exists cause people strive for perfection but sometimes don't hit the mark ?

I think the quality issue has existed since pinballs were invented and probably wil exist forever cause humans build these things. What can u do but try your best ?

Should never reach a warranty claim. This is the issue. I fully understand your points - but - THAT Gene head should never have left the building to become a warranty issue for the Dealer / stern.

Stern are not trying their best. The eyes that have seen this head pass through each phase of construction have not alerted anyone that it IS an issue. THAT is left up to the buyer to highlight to the dealer that has the task of organizing a new head - there's an hour of work and shipping at Stern's cost. Could have been avoided in 10 seconds on the factory floor with a bin marked "imperfect".

Now all the High end collector's are going to look for these problems and consider them. If they are sitting on the fence - Stern have a big problem. They are not JUST catering for Operators anymore. They need to deal with the collectors that expect value for money and at least a basic understanding on what looks good, and what is completely wrong.

[pinsanity]

Should never reach a warranty claim. This is the issue. I fully understand your points - but - THAT Gene head should never have left the building to become a warranty issue for the Dealer / stern.

Stern are not trying their best. The eyes that have seen this head pass through each phase of construction have not alerted anyone that it IS an issue. THAT is left up to the buyer to highlight to the dealer that has the task of organizing a new head - there's an hour of work and shipping at Stern's cost. Could have been avoided in 10 seconds on the factory floor with a bin marked "imperfect".

Now all the High end collector's are going to look for these problems and consider them. If they are sitting on the fence - Stern have a big problem. They are not JUST catering for Operators anymore. They need to deal with the collectors that expect value for money and at least a basic understanding on what looks good, and what is completely wrong.

+1

And there's the rub. The cost of addressing QC issues under warranty claims might be absorbed by Stern in the interim but will ultimately be passed on to the consumer with further price increases on future titles. The whole process thus becomes a vicious cycle between them and the end consumer.

This is not some defective component that fails after prolonged use, this is a clear visual fault that numerous eyes from the outset (both skilled and unskilled) should have noticed during the original manufacturing process of the original part, let alone actually making it to the assembly line for installation.

As Strangeways alluded to, I don't believe Stern have truly embraced the fact that the market (and consumer expectations) has changed so dramatically in the last 10 plus years. That is why professionally restored machines which are now approaching at minimum 16 years old are achieving the same prices as Stern's Premium and LE range (and in many cases surpassing them in price). The market will pay for quality regardless of whether the machine is 16 years or 16 days old provided the quality is there to begin with.

[Caveoftreasures]

Stern are not perfect yet. But they are working their asses off to be.
99 percent of their shipped stock is excellent from the feedback I get and have seen from my BNIB purchases and other collectors.
It's a very small problem which will be addressed.
I know and have spoken to a lot of the USA staff n designers.
Their words give me a confidence I can bank on n trust.

This issue is small and only on a few first released.
Stern will settle the line and the new title and it will be fine.
Let's wait n see when all the machines arrive.

[robm]

Hope you get results with warranty and support.  I certainly had no luck with a HUO ACDC LE (admittedly i was the 2nd owner) - it was 14 months old and 2 legs had the powder coat cracked out where rust was bubbling from underneath. Now it was one front and one back on diagonally opposite sides.  If it was both front or both back, you could concede there might have been water or something at some stage, but not diagonally opposite legs. 

AMD admitted 'it was unusual and shouldn't happen', but couldn't offer replacement, neither did Stern.  Not having a whinge, as it is a fantastic game and i love playing it, however would have thought they may have backed their product a little more.

[Pop Bumper Pete]

LOLS
reading on Facebook, Stern also needs to buy a map
supposedly part of the game is to visit different concert venues
the city of 'Pittsburgh' is spelt wrong
:p

[Strangeways]

LOLS
reading on Facebook, Stern also needs to buy a map
supposedly part of the game is to visit different concert venues
the city of 'Pittsburgh' is spelt wrong
:p

Is this a joke ?

[Pop Bumper Pete]

LOLS
reading on Facebook, Stern also needs to buy a map
supposedly part of the game is to visit different concert venues
the city of 'Pittsburgh' is spelt wrong
:p

Is this a joke ?

Nino, I have not knocked KISS since its announcement
I can only report what I read online

it is not a biggie, there will be software updates, as long a Stern knows about it is an easy fix